Fresno State Athletics
Women's Tennis Season in Review
8/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Coaches often describe the recipe for a successful team as follows ? several upper-class, experienced players mixed with a sprinkling of youth, all coming together to form a deep, potent squad capable of withstanding injuries.
But before the 2002-03 season, Fresno State head coach Kevin Epley crumbled that recipe up, lit it afire and wrote one newer and much more unconventional. The dish it produced was garnished with such success, it may be viewed as one of the most outstanding pieces of work of Epley's career.
Despite fielding the youngest squad of any team ranked in the top 25, the Bulldogs maintained their standing atop the WAC heap and were once again among the nation's best teams. Fresno State's roster was comprised of just six players, the minimum number necessary to play a college tennis match. Of those six, four were freshmen while the other two were sophomores.
Nonetheless, Epley helped craft the Bulldogs' second league title in a row. Chloe Carlotti posted another All-American season and added the WAC Player of the Year trophy to her mantle. Epley was named the league coach of the year, the second consecutive season he earned that honor. And the Bulldogs advanced to the NCAA Tournament for an eighth successive year.
The season began on a bittersweet note, with Fresno State defeating Cal Poly 5-2 but losing junior Courtney Jantz for the year when she injured her knee in her match at No. 6 singles. That pared what was already a limited roster to six with no hopes for any additions. The Bulldogs would have to play the entire schedule with no room for any more injuries.
Fresno State sputtered to get going over the course of the next few weeks. Good wins over No. 15 UNLV and 38th-ranked Mississippi were followed by losses to No. 19 South Alabama and ninth-ranked UCLA, which were followed by victories against Rice and BYU.
The Bulldogs continued to hover just north of .500 heading into a brutal week of matches in mid-March that turned the season around. The stretch entailed four matches ? all away from Fresno ? in a seven-day period. Fresno State opened with neutral-site losses to No. 24 Harvard and No. 14 Washington. The loss to the Crimson came in what Epley described as one of the team's poorest efforts of the season.
Fresno State was 7-7 and full of youth and self-doubt. Two more matches, both against nationally-ranked opponents, loomed. Though just at the season's midway point, things were threatening to unravel.
 In guiding the youngest Top 25 team in the nation to a WAC title and an NCAA berth, Kevin Epley received the league coach of the year award for the second year in a row.  | |
But the Bulldogs bounced back with a 5-2 victory over Pepperdine that would rejuvenate the team and would carry them right into, and through, the postseason. With an easy win over 45th-ranked Washington State, Fresno State was suddenly a new team, full of vim and vigor and ready to tackle the rest of the campaign head on.
Entering April, the Bulldogs were 9-7, but that mark was about to improve dramatically. Wins just kept on coming ? Northern Arizona, Santa Clara, Pacific and Utah all fell victim to Fresno State's new sense of worth. Heading into the WAC Tournament, the Bulldogs were riding as high as they had all year.
Fresno State opened the conference championships with a 4-0 win against Hawaii. Another shutout, this one against Rice, followed in the semifinals. In the finals, the top-seeded Bulldogs faced Tulsa, and for the second year in a row, won the WAC title. The roster featuring four freshman and two sophomores, who four weeks prior appeared destined for a .500 record, were now 16-7 heading into the NCAA's.
Fresno State needed a U-Haul to bring home all the conference awards landed during the tournament. Chloe Carlotti and Lucia Tallo were both first-team All-WAC in singles, and they teamed to form a first-team All-WAC doubles team. Carlotti was the WAC Player of the Year, and Epley was the league's top coach.
The NCAA Tournament was next, and Fresno State was sent to Tempe, Ariz., to play its first and second round matches. The Bulldogs opened by cruising past San Diego State 4-0, the fourth year in a row they won their first round tournament match. But in the second round, Fresno State fell to host and 15th-seeded Arizona State 4-2. The Bulldogs' season was over with a 17-8 mark.
Individually, Carlotti was invited to play in the NCAA Singles Tournament. In doubles, Carlotti and Tallo combined to play in the doubles competition. Carlotti wound up making the second round in singles and completed the campaign ranked 10th in the nation. She followed up her 33-win All-American freshman season with a 29-8 mark and All-American honors yet again. She became the only player in program history to achieve All-America status more than once.
